The late civil rights leader Bayard Rustin said, “We are all one, and if we don’t know it, we will learn it the hard way.” Our world is divided, I’m sure you will agree. Whether in the rise of far-right extremism, the resurgence of anti-immigrant sentiments, or the widening reach of conspiracy theories, conflict and …
If this world has taught me anything, it’s that things don’t always unfold the way we expect. And hate doesn’t just go away, even when we think it’s been beat and buried. The year I was born was the same year that the AIDS epidemic began, a health crisis for which there was little immediate …
It is often said that science and religion are two different paths to truth. Religion and spirituality offer a sense of personal truth (what I will refer to as knowing) through faith and subjective experiences of meaning and transcendence. Science, on the other hand, offers an objective sense of the world—knowledge of how things exist …
The Reconciliation of Personal and Collective Truth Read More »
If there’s one new year’s resolution we all need to make (again), it is to be more humble. We need to listen more, and speak less. See the strength in modesty. And resign our egos—or at least try to. Because the world depends on it. Most of our problems today are driven by what lies …
It is from time to time and every now and again, when the wind moves and the trees begin to sway, and the sound of rustling leaves fills the air, that I get a little closer to that feeling—of being connected, or embedded, like I’m part of it all again, like I’m home. But most …
Fate whispers to the warrior, “You can not withstand the storm.”The warrior whispers back, “I am the storm.” —Jake Remington To call life the storm would be tempting but not quite right. It is the world that is the storm; the thing we struggle to navigate; the situations and environments that try us, and break …
“The present time has one advantage over every other—it is our own.” (Charles Caleb Colton) People say that there’s a lesson to be had from COVID-19; that as a species, we have something to learn from the recent pandemic. Perhaps it will remind us of what really matters in life, or perhaps it will alter …
If there’s one new year’s resolution we all need to make, it’s to be more humble. We need to listen more, and speak less. See the strength in modesty. And renounce our egos—or try to. Because the world depends on it. Most of our problems today are driven by what lies opposite to humility: egotism, …
What’s in a like? Not much, really—another toggle from 0 and 1; an electronic stamp of approval, existing nowhere real and barely contemplated. It is reactionary. Visible, yes, but hardly tangible. Constructed. Created. Imaginary. But it feels good. And sometimes it even matters. This week, in my Psych Café series at UBC (in which my …
Narcissism, egotism, aggression, dishonesty, far-right extremism, xenophobia, and white nationalism—all elements of the growing sociocultural phenomenon known as Trumpism—are on the rise around the world, affecting citizens and politicians alike, and compromising our efforts to promote and uphold the common good. This is how to stop it… What follows is a slightly revised, late-night train …
Disabling Trumpism: Target the Followers, Not their Leader Read More »